Month: November 2012

I picked up a pair of Wii U’s on launch day. I ordered a few more when I thought I would be able to cash in and make a quick buck. As it stands right now, I’ll barely break even – auctions on eBay for Wii U consoles aren’t going much higher than retail, and by the time you throw in a game and offer free shipping to make your auction enticing, you’re not doing so well. Prices may go up as we approach the holiday, but this isn’t about whether or not I make a dollar, this is really about what Nintendo has to offer with their early lead in to the “next generation” of consoles.

I was going to join the fray, today, and post an article about Windows Phone 7.8. I was going to ask where it was, why it hadn’t been mentioned lately, and talk about how some people disagree with Paul Thurrott’s recent public shaming of Windows Phone team (for the record, I’m on Paul’s side on this one!). Microsoft is focused, as they should be, on their new products. But for a company who has made monthly updates to Windows since 1998, and made their monthly updates work across a metrically infinite number of possible hardware combinations, Microsoft sure has had a hard time getting Windows Phones updated. I’m starting to wonder if it’s a one man “team.”

I was going to write about all of that, but in the last 24 hours, Microsoft finally spoke up. Probably due to rumors starting on Mashable that Windows Phone 7.8 could arrive as early as yesterday, and a bit in response to Thurrott’s post, Microsoft’s Official Windows Phone Blog had something to say. Word is that new phones could ship as early as the end of the year, preloaded with Windows Phone 7.8. These phones will be designed to hit a budget minded audience, but Microsoft’s Terry Myerson didn’t want people to worry, because Microsoft is pushing to have popular apps, like this Spring’s crazy popular “Draw Something,” and last Winter’s “Words with Friends.” Okay, they also mentioned Angry Birds space and the newest Angry Birds Star Wars, but no dates.

As far as pre-existing phones getting the update? Well, Myerson was a bit more guarded when it came to that, saying: “we want you to know that we’re working closely with our hardware and carrier partners to get it tested, approved, and rolled out to as many devices as possible in early 2013. As we work to quickly get this in the hands of our loyal users, we’re also striving to deliver a high-quality release and ensure a smooth transition for our widely expanded services.”

The reaction wasn’t very positive. Scanning the comments below the post, feedback compared Windows Phone 7.8 to the WebOS, and more than a few remarking that they were disappointed or annoyed. I even joined in the comments! The post has a 1/5 star rating, too. People are unhappy. Not millions of people, more like dozens… but we still feel the pain, and I hope at least someone at Microsoft is learning a lesson. I know I did: being an early adopter has its risks. I already knew that, but I seem to be reminded of that lesson in spades this year. More on that tomorrow.

If you bought a Surface for Windows RT, or a new tablet or laptop, you’ve no doubt seen the new mail app. The question is, can you add things like your Hotmail account or a work email address to it – and if so, how? It’s not too painful. The best and easiest method is to use IMAP for your GMail account, and if you’re using Hotmail, Outlook.com, or Exchange in your office, you can add your email as an Exchange account and it will work just fine. There are some basic steps to follow to be well on your way to adding mail to the app.

With a recent update, Microsoft has made it easier and the mail application now prompts you what type of account you want to add. But, if for any reason it doesn’t, the easiest thing to do is as follows:For GMail:

Open the mail app.

Swipe in from the right / place the mouse pointer in the upper or lower right corner.

Click Settings (I’ll bet you didn’t know it was contextual – you do now!).

Choose Accounts.

Choose Add Account.

If you have the option, choose GMail, and enter your email address / password. If not, choose Exchange and continue:

For the username, enter your email address. For the domain, leave it blank. Enter your password, of course, and then for server, enter m.google.com – the app will handle the rest!

Yes, whether adding Exchange or Gmail, the basic step is just getting to that “Settings” menu, and adding a new account. That was the moment I learned that the “Settings” button on the charm bar was contextual – depending on the program you’re in at the time, some of the “settings” will be different. Lesson learned, and carried forward!

Let us know if you have any more questions about the mail app – need another screen shot? Some more advice? Let me know! I usually respond pretty quickly!

Hey everyone – sorry for the lack of news lately, I’ve been enjoying a brief holiday vacation. But I wanted to get back to the grind and give a word of advice to new Windows 8 users. I’ve already seen interest in the App Store on Windows 8, but people are asking “if I buy a game or app on one computer, do I have to buy it on another?” You’ll be thankful to know that, no, you don’t have to spend your money over and over for apps you’ve already purchased in Windows 8. This holds true as long as you use the same Windows Live ID / Microsoft Account on each of the computers. If, for some reason, you have used different Microsoft Accounts, then the Store cannot see your purchases and synchronize them. Buy once, download many!

It should be noted that apps of the same title that have been purchased on other platforms, such as Windows Phone 7 or Xbox 360, do not transfer. This was a bit of a let down, as my quest to have this question answered began with the game I show in the video, Hydro Thunder Hurricane, which I already own on Xbox 360 (along with Hydro Thunder Go on WP7). Here’s hoping that, eventually, this will all be a thing of the past, and I will finally begin to grow a catalog of applications – but at least you can rest easy knowing that you won’t have to spend a fortune getting apps on both your “work” and “play” computers!

This week’s app is the Windows Phone 7 competitor to apps like Flipboard and Pulse. Weave News Reader is a feed reader app that seems built from the ground up for Windows Phone 7 users. It grabs lots of feeds like US news and Entertainment, but also takes in to consideration the fact that many Windows Phone 7 users are fans of Microsoft products, it also has built in feeds for things like Microsoft news, or Windows Phone 7 news.

Weave gives you the ability to customize the 30+ categories from 180+ sources, and share the articles you find on several social networks, including Facebook, Instapaper, and Twitter. It loads impressively fast and really does its best to give you an immersive experience. It might not reach the bar set by Flipboard, but it comes impressively close for something that isn’t busy trying to maintain its exclusive appearance. Go ahead and download it for free, Weave News Reader is worth a shot!

It’s Tech Tip Tuesday. It’s November 20th, 2012. 27 years ago today, Windows 1.0 was shipped. For just a geek trip down memory lane, here is the official version log / change log for versions 1-3 (essentially, anything before Windows 95). It’s too bad that the official Microsoft “history of Windows” page hasn’t even been updated with relevant Windows 7 or Windows 8 information, yet. Still, I thought it would be fun to read through the official “change log” of the earliest versions of Windows that only some of us even remember!

- MS-DOS version 3.2 support
- Enhanced keyboard support
- AT&T 6300 and AT&T 6300 Plus support
- 14-, 18-, and 24-point sizes added to
TimesRoman and Helvetica fonts
- Generic/Text Only printer driver added
- PostScript printer driver added
- .WRI extension used for Windows Write files
(version 1.01 used .DOC extension)
- Support for all features of the international
version

DDL 1/87 Windows Device Driver Library Volume 1

Additional support for display devices,
printers, and pointing devices added

- 512K Memory
- MS-DOS version 3.0 or later
- One floppy-disk drive AND one hard disk (note
that a hard disk is now required)
- Graphics adapter card (the box notes: IBM
EGA, IBM VGA, IBM 8514, IBM CGA, Hercules
Graphics Card, or compatibles)
- Use of the Microsoft Mouse is optional
- Packaged with 5.25-inch 1.2 megabyte
disks OR 3.5-inch 720K disks, plus an
order form for free 360K 5.25-inch disks

Changes

- New HIMEM.SYS driver allowing the use of the first
64K of extended memory to store part of Windows,
giving approximately 50K additional conventional
memory inside Windows
- Support for approximately 65 more printers than
version 2.03, bringing the total supported
printers to approximately 127
- Support for additional computers
- Support for additional display devices

- Certificate of Authenticity
- More sophisticated hologram and an MS (3M) sticker
on box
- An 800 number to call (in the United States &
Canada) and check for product legitimacy
- Updated drivers
- Five updated core files
- NetWare support files (from Novell)

Tracks like Bump literally paint a beautiful picture of “black trees / silhouetted against an orange sky” as you drive down the road with your music blasting. Every time I hear it in the car I go a little bit faster. Other songs like Bottles and Cans tell an interesting story about the cost of being the life of the party. Other songs like Red Water and Walk Away slow the album down and make you take a deeper look at your life, whether it’s from the perspective of someone who appears to have it all, or someone about to lose their marriage. There are several more good songs on the album, and this is one of those rare few I really enjoy beginning to end. This Town is a fantastic song about life in a small town, which always reminds me of where I grew up in Pennsylvania. I would, without a second of hesitation, tell anybody to listen to Graffiti The World.

Even if you’re opposed to the language on the album, you can’t come away from it without understanding that these guys have been there – or they know someone who has. Dealing with everything from suicide, to drug addiction, to struggling with their career in music, and even religion, on an alternate pressing of this album (a song was cut from this release, entiled “This I Know” which puts a modern spin on the children’s Sunday School song “Jesus Loves Me, this I know…”). I’m really a big fan of Rehab and enjoy most of their stuff, but this album finds its way in to my rotation over and over again!

Recently, a friend turned to me with a problem with his Xbox 360. When we started talking, he said that the lights on the console weren’t doing anything strange, but there was no picture on his TV. So I walked him through resetting his display settings by starting the console and pressing a certain combo of buttons on his controller. No luck – it turned out his controller wasn’t syncing. So, then, I told him how to sync his controller to his Xbox 360. No luck. He then plugged in a USB controller – still no change, the light on the controller never came on to show it was connected.

In the end, it turned out that he had recently rearranged his living room and the HDMI cable wasn’t snug in the back of the Xbox 360. He had gotten to the point that he had worked with Microsoft’s phone support and they weren’t able to help him, he was about to send the console off for repair – until he decided he could try another HDMI cable. When reaching to unplug his current cable, he realized it was loose.

I would suggest that you check both ends of your HDMI cable (Xbox 360 console and TV), and even use the HDMI cable of another working device such as a DVD player or a PS3, just for testing purposes. Even though the controller issue seems strangely unrelated, it seems that the Xbox 360 must detect that it is connected to a display source before it starts the controller up. Now, even if you have the incorrect display resolution selected, it will at least finish booting up. Not having a video out cable of any kind connected must stop the boot sequence. We learned something new today! And I hope it helps you!

The Wii U launches on Sunday. The Deluxe Model includes Nintendo Land. Of course, I’ll be buying New Super Mario Bros. U, and feeling like a kid on launch day (and then remembering exactly how much I hated having to turn my game off so my dad could have the TV to watch football, as I have a “prior engagement” for Sunday Night Football). And although I don’t have stars in my eyes and I’m not excited for this console as a gaming console, I’m excited to see it as someone who has owned every console Nintendo has ever released – I’m excited to see it Nintendo mature, to see what is going to come next. I’m excited to see if, this generation, firmware updates will be for more than combating piracy (and failing miserably at even that).

I’m almost anxious, but the feeling, with a little more than 48 hours to go, is nothing like 1996 when I knew there was a Nintendo 64 in the house, but I couldn’t have it until Santa delivered it. It’s certainly not like 1992, when I DIDN’T know there was a Super Nintendo in the house and was blown away to open my Super Mario World / Mario Paint Super NES Super Set. It seems like a life time ago.

To prep myself, mentally, I read up on the latest offering from Nintendo: Iwata Asks: Wii U: The Console. I have to say I’m not floored – we’ve already seen how the hardware barely holds up against the Xbox 360 and the PS3 – it basicall brings the Wii in to the HD era, but it is still sweating itself to be that much more than the Gamecube. Perhaps there is hidden potential to unlock, and I think I’ll have more to say on that next week – but I still have that “new console” buzz going through my mind. I wonder if I’ll get any sleep Saturday night?